Infosys Science Foundation (ISF) announced the winners of the Infosys Prize 2019 in six categories today. The Prize has been declared for Engineering and Computer Sciences, Humanities, Life Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Physical Sciences and Social Sciences categories. The Prize, given annually, celebrates the success of the recipients in science and research by recognising their achievements in each category, the ISF said in a statement. The prize for each category comprises a pure gold medal, a citation and a prize purse of USD 100,000 (or its equivalent in Rs which is Rs 71 lakh approximately) this year.
Infosys Prize 2019: Complete list of winners
Engineering and Computer Science
The Infosys Prize 2019 for Engineering and Computer Science is awarded to Sunita Sarawagi, Institute Chair Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, for her research in databases, data mining, machine learning and natural language processing, and for important applications of these research techniques.
The Prize, according to the Foundation, "recognizes her pioneering work in developing information extraction techniques for unstructured data".
Prof. Sarawagi's work has practical applications in helping clean up unstructured data like addresses on the web and in repositories which then helps in more efficient handling of queries, the Foundation said.
Humanities
The Infosys Prize 2019 for Humanities is awarded to Manu V. Devadevan, Assistant Professor, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Mandi for his original and wide-ranging work on pre-modern South India.
"He critically reinterprets much of the conventional wisdom about the cultural, religious and social history of the Deccan and South India. Dr. Devadevan's primary research interests include political and economic processes in pre-modern South India, literary practices in South India and the study of ancient inscriptions from the region," the Foundation said in a statement.
Life Sciences
The Infosys Prize 2019 for Life Sciences is awarded to Manjula Reddy, Chief Scientist, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad for her groundbreaking discoveries concerning the structure of cell walls in bacteria.
According to the Foundation, Dr. Reddy and her colleagues have revealed critical steps of cell wall growth that are fundamental for understanding bacterial biology. "This work could potentially help in creating a new class of antibiotics to combat antibiotic resistant microbes" it said.
Mathematical Sciences
The Infosys Prize 2019 for Mathematical Sciences is awarded to Siddhartha Mishra, Professor, Department of Mathematics, ETH Zurich, for his outstanding contributions to Applied Mathematics, particularly for designing numerical tools for solving problems in the real world.
"Prof. Mishra's work has been used in climate models, in astrophysics, aerodynamics, and plasma physics. He has produced codes for complicated realistic problems such as tsunamis generated by rock slides, and waves in the solar atmosphere," the Foundation said in a statement.
Physical Sciences
The Infosys Prize 2019 for Physical Sciences is awarded to G. Mugesh, Professor, Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, for his seminal work in the chemical synthesis of small molecules and nanomaterials for biomedical applications.
"His work has contributed to the understanding of the role of trace elements, selenium and iodine, in thyroid hormone activation and metabolism, and this research has led to major medical advances," the Foundation said.
Social Sciences
The Infosys Prize 2019 for Social Sciences is awarded to Anand Pandian, Professor, Department of Anthropology, Krieger School of Arts & Sciences, Johns Hopkins University for his imaginative work on ethics, selfhood and the creative process.
The Foundation said "Prof. Pandian's research encompasses several themes such as cinema, public culture, ecology, nature and the theory and methods of anthropology. His writing pushes the boundaries of how anthropologists render into words the worlds they encounter. His work breaks new ground".
Click here for more Education News
